Join us to shape the future of science!

The landscape of scientific research and funding is in flux, affected by tight budgets, evolving models of both publishing and evaluation, and questions about training and workforce stability. As future leaders, junior scientists are uniquely poised to shape the culture and practice of science in response to these challenges. We are planning a symposium to give voice to graduate students and postdocs in the ongoing dialog about policies that shape the scientific establishment.

How?

We are a group of postdocs in the Boston area invested in improving the scientific endeavor. We represent eight institutions: Harvard Medical School, Brandeis University, Boston University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Tufts University, Harvard School of Public Health, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

We are planning a postdoc-organized two day event in the Fall of 2014 in Boston. The event will consist of talks and panel discussions on issues affecting the future of science as well as breakout sessions to expand on these topics. Participants will have the opportunity for in-depth discussion on specific areas of interest including:

Metrics for evaluating science

Efficiency of scientific research and communication

Funding structure

Focus and duration of training

Sustainability of the workforce

Causes and consequences of competitiveness

Each discussion will be moderated by postdocs who have assembled current data and other pertinent background information for workshop participants. The goal of each session will be to elucidate a majority opinion on which challenges are most important to address, and to develop recommendations for moving toward an equitable, sustainable research enterprise.

The output

After the symposium, we will publish a report representing the majority opinion of participants. This document will be available online for a one month period, during which participants and the scientific community at large will be asked to comment on and/or endorse the document. The final report, including an appendix of comments, will be disseminated to journals, policy makers, administrators, and the scientific community at large. We are open to recommendations on the format, content, and recipients of this document.

What next?

This conference will give young scientists a voice in defining the future culture and practice of science. Furthermore, we will begin the process of working with policy-makers, administrators, and senior scientists on achieving needed change.

This is an amazing initiative! Kudos to the team of post-docs. As I am unable to attend this symposium, my only request is to the coordinators is to publish talks or details in open access journals. If possible could you try to get talks or discussions recorded by TED or any other medium to be shared with the larger audience?

Hi Abhinaya, thanks so much for your encouraging words. We are planning to post recordings of the talks and panels online promptly after the meeting – these, as well as any report we produce, will definitely be freely available.

It’s a great great initiative, and I wished that I was there to attend this symposium 🙁 (I am a Postdoc at TSRI, CA and live in San Diego area) Now, I look forward to reading/watching the resources from the meeting. Once again, hats off to you guys for organizing such an amazing event!